Background

To recycle your garbage at home is today very common in the Swedish home, but how good are we at recycling while at school or work? In this study we wanted to investigate the demands and needs a user has on a recycling bin placed in a common area.

The users identified were students, cleaners and the Chalmers Environmental unit. The demands and needs of the different user groups were identified by interviews and a focus group, and later anchored in a small literature study.

User demands and needs

After the user research was done the data was analyzed and we summarized the demands and needs into three design guidelines that acted as the base for the concept development.

A cuboid shape to match the common and professional location. A natural color scheme and wooden material to indicate the product’s green purpose.

The result

A recycling bin where paper, plastics and combustible waste is equally important. At the top we’ve put the smaller compartments glass, non combustible and metal, and adjusted their sizes according to frequency of use.When using the combustible waste compartment the user is reminded with the question ”Have you recycled?”.And to use the combustible waste compartment you have to confirm your wish by pushing the compartment open, which makes this a more difficult task than sorting your waste hopefully resulting in more recycling.All three lower compartments are equipped with a bag holder which makes it easy to release the sometimes heavy waste bag from the bin.

The structure of the recycling bin is represented on the information poster, which makes waste identification more intuitive and easy.Posted in Industrial Design Engineering